Vaccinations for kids? Related to Autism?

First off, I'm too old to still have children, so this is not a question that I have to decide, but I think it's a topic for those of you having children to consider. Twenty-two years ago, I considered anyone who questioned children's vaccinations a quack, and therefore had my kid vaccinated.

I currently have a few friends with children with autism, and obviously it's a life-long issue for the child and the parents. One specifically tells me that his son showed no symptoms of autism prior to vaccinations.

As some of you probably know, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, is currently running for President of the US as an independent candidate. Aside from this "fame", he was a very successful environmental attorney who has no doubt done a world of good for local citizens versus corporate pollution. But he also has done much research into drug/vaccination testing.

In listening to interviews with him, he purports that vaccinations do not require the same FDA scrutiny of other drugs. (and the scrutiny to other drugs, especially for off label diagnosis is very porous)
His research (supposedly) points to the increase in vaccinations and the increase in autism.

One of his points is that the number of required vaccinations have increased, as have the number of autistic children. I don't know if this is true. He says "where were all these autistic children when we were kids?" As an older person, I kind of agree, but for all I know, they were in the "special ed" class, but more or less, I truly do not know.

IF this has any degree of truth to it, it seems criminal at the very least. A lot of us might argue that big pharma does much that should be considered criminal, using covid responses as an easy example.

Researching this topic is very difficult, as there is so much money involved, so there are tons of "articles" and "research" combatting his arguments.

I apologize for adding yet another issue for young parents to consider, but seems to at least weighing the advantages/possible life changing costs of vaccinations.